Break The Walls Down
tf - Saturday, August 23, 2014, 8:04 PM --------------------------------------- Retoris Outskirts(#11178Rnt) - Retoris Protected on three sides by natural defenses, the only way into the harmonious and progressive city of Retoris is through the massive defensive structure known as The Wall, a medieval but effective enclosure punctuated by two devastating neutron cannons. The Wall spreads out in either direction, making you feel rather tiny... Ahead in the distance, the Golden Gates of Retoris shine in the sun, underscored by the beautiful music of deadlocked traffic. Contents: Grimlock(#3882) Brontosaurus (#1667) Nissan 350Z Police Cruiser (#10770) Blaster(#1902) Blast Off(#1878) Ravage(#2001) Ratbat(#2000) Rumble(#48) Bludgeon(#9839) Wrecker BattleWagon (#2477) Harbinger(#10159) Soundwave(#29) Autobot Base (#1016) Retoris (#11239) Retoris Defenses (#10248) Obvious exits: Up leads to Sky over the Iacon Region. Out leads to Iacon Region. Combat: Ravage activates his cloaking field and vanishes from sight! The Assault on Retoris continues. Since the Olympics had no official truce this year, it only makes sense that the Decepticons kept their push going, and with Retoris before them, they were just outside Iacon itself. If the wall was broken, if they got through, it could spell big trouble for the Autobots. As such with their center of power threatened, the fighting keeps escalating. THREE HOURS have gone by since the assault began. The plasma fire, from the Decepticon war machines know as Marauders, crackles several large areas of the Retoris plain burn unnaturally. Gumbies on each side are in full force, fighting for their lives. Near the Retoris Wall, one of the large steel doors opens up, allowing out a triage team. Armed with heavy shotguns, several of them stand guard, while others start dragging the wounded up the ramps back into the city proper. From his viewpoint at a distance, the Spymaster Soundwave watches the combat silently. He had plans today, big plans, and it would be he that was known for conquering Retoris. His arms cross as the battle rages onward. More mortar fire is launched, slow purple balls of plasma that arc through the sky. Overhead, Seekers launch missiles at the shield defending the city. Autobot fire on the Wall itself, causes several missiles to explode early, taking down four of the Seekers in formation, sending them to the ground in a volley of fireballs. A police car can be seen closing towards the center of combat. The Retoris's Prowlers are manning one of the defense bunkers atop the wall. The Prowlers...that is alot to live up to. Prowl transforms as he reaches the one of the guard bunker atop the wall. He surveys the scene and calculates the possible outcomes. The Autobot pulls out his rilfe and raises it like a flag. He keys his radio to the Autobot frequency << Autobots! The people of Retoris are counting on us to protect what they have worked so hard to rebuilt. The line is drawn here! No further. No Decepticons will set foot into Retoris alive tonight! Give it your all and watch one another. We can win this! >> With the traditional sound from your childhood, the police cruiser unfolds into Prowl's robot form. Combat: Prowl inspires Grimlock, Brontosaurus , Blaster, and Wrecker BattleWagon with lofty and patriotic words! The Dinobots had come in to reinforce the wall, after all, Grimlock was still angry about their shenanigans in managing to break the wall in the first place. He'd ordered the Dinobots to a staging ground to the north of the wall, waiting for the Decepticon hordes to engage fully with the remaining defenses before they'd come swooping down from on high. Smashing into the left flank of the attackers, they'd begun their assault like a tidal wave of destruction, slamming with roars and fire into the enemies of freedom. It was arguably one of the most dramatic and devastating line-ups the Autobots could field - - - - They'd transformed in unison when they hit the ground, wading into battle. "SLUDGE! Get to wall and relieve defenses. Him Sludge am big, block hole in wall and not let any Decepticon's into Retoris!" Grimlock had bellowed as he transformed. His huge sword had severed cleanly through a seeker, the thing belching smoke and turning gray immediately before Grimlock slammed the lifeless corpses arm straight through a second seeker with a mighty throw. "SNARL, SLAG! Break them Decepticon's tank lines! Show them what REAL ARTILLERY look like!" he had commanded the two grouchiest beings in the universe, who had gleefully begun trundling towards the Decepticon tanks. The devastation being wrought was tremendous as they thundered into the enemy lines, sending pieces of Decepticon melting every which way. As for Grimlock, he was looking around towards the sky, "WHERE HIM SWOOP WHEN NEED HIM!?" he'd demanded of no one in particular before simply lifting a massive foot and crushing a Decepticon beneath. Looking back towards the wall he'd made a sweeping motion with his hands, "AUTOBOTS! TO ARMS! Not fight them at wall, but push them back and grind them to dirt! This am finest hour! You Autobots have TOUCH! You Aubotots have the POWER! Now make all hell break loose!" he'd bellowed to the lines as he pushed towards the Decepticon 'leadership' (aka the named people). Another seeker tried to get in his way, foolishly, and Grimlock swung that massive sword again, rending the poor thing in half from helmet to crotch, ripping the pieces to either side and bellowing his fury. Combat: Grimlock inspires Prowl with righteous and heroic words! The triage teams aren't the only ones passing through the one open gate in an effort to clear the wounded off the field before they become the deadened instead. Shotgun wielding guards flank the sides of the entrance for cover fire over their comrades. And also to make room for the large, heavily armored warmachine to come rolling through the passage after them. Roadbuster drives out just far enough for the triage to have room to move past him and back through the gate, using the Wrecker's bulk for cover as needed. "Don't just stand their with yer actuators up your exhaust vents, get those mechs off the field." Wheels lock into place to stablize himself as his turret whirrs to live, turning in the direction of the aptly named Marauders. One of them might notice the little red dot appear on his brow courtesy of it's infrared scope. THWOOM! Ever see someone headshot with a railcannon? Well now you just did, the Maurader's chassis crumpling to the ground after his cranial unit was shrapneled all over the battlefield. "Tag Em, Frag Em and Bag Em!" Combat: Grimlock sets his defense level to Fearless. Frenzy has arrived. Little Red Cassette transforms into his Frenzy mode. Talking button fun. Him Grimlock say break things. Me break. No. Wait. Him King Grimlock say be wall. Me be wall then. Then me get cookie. Sludge thinks as he powers through into the crowd. He hasn't realised how many Decepticons have been stomped as he crashes towards the hole in the wall and blocks it with his bulk. http://youtu.be/HMUDVMiITOU The Master of Communications can be heard on the scene before he can be seen. Whether or not he's doing anything that's actually worth anything, he's making sure that there's nothing but pure epic level of music that blasting from him is enough to have all sorts of shenanigans going on. Decepticon Gumbies get hurled to the left and right as he cuts a path through them, either kicking them or blasting them with the pure power of bass drops and whatever else seems to be pouring out of his legs. He takes fire just as well as he gives, moving steadily though as if he's not going to allow a Decepticon to get past him. His optics are narrowed in a manner that shows and proves just how much he's actually focused on the task at hand. However, every second step or movement of his is blessed with his head nodding to the beat coming from his own body. Even while entrenched in the heat of battle, BLASTER cannot deny his love of the music. A shot rocks him right in the chest, something fierce and powerful. Whether it be from a Seeker or something else, it doesn't matter. There's a grunt and his body is sent sailing backwards, where it seemingly falls quiet and silent, knocked from the likes of this battle for the moment. As that moment subsides and the Decepticon Gumby stalks over to admire his handiwork, smoke can be seen swirling up from Blaster's chest. His body doesn't seem to be moving. His optics are dim. He's down. He's out. He's... http://youtu.be/ab9176Srb5Y The resulting explosion of music combines with the crackling spark from the Electro-Scrambler Gun in Blaster's hand as he blows the head clean off that Decepticon Gumby. He helicopter spins back up to his feet and reaches up to brush some of the singe off his Deck Chest, which shows a crack right down the middle of the 'glass'. He flashes a small smile as the music pumps him up something fierce and he takes off into the fray to get back to business. This time, though, stepping a bit more carefully. Not letting these fools get the drop on him again. Not like that. Combat: Blaster sets his defense level to Guarded. Almost fantatical due to the Named forces for the Autobots, the gumbies in the trenches, and in positions of cover, do indeed grow more daring. More alert, faster. As one of the Marauders launches its next plasma round, Slag rams its leg, causing it to stagger, giving Snarl the opportunity he needs to run right beneath the walker, his scaleplates tearing the mobile artillery piece apart from below. Between Roadbuster and Grimlock taking the field, almost immediately the Con assault is halted, but not routed! Several tanks open fire on their positions, then transform into a line of Bruisers, complete with their heavy shields and hammers. Fathom has arrived. With a disdainful shrug, Blast Off transforms into a space shuttle. Soundwave gestures forwards, "BLUDGEON...BEGIN ASSAULT." Enemy fire sprays around him, but at the moment he's outside the maximum accurate range. "SECOND WAVE, FORWARD." And with that, another line of Decepticons push forward, using the Bruisers as cover from Roadbuster, the Gumbies, and the Dinobots...sorta. Prowl and those atop the wall, his Prowlers, have a better shot at the line as it moves forward. Trenchfoot calls in over the radio, "Prowl! We've got radar declarin something inbound. Multiple somethings." A video feed is linked to the Wall itself, showing aerial footage of several balls of fire coming in from orbit. It's not Blast Off this time either! FLASHBACK: Soundwave orders Hijack a few months ago to secure him several space mining vessels, to which the rogue easily procured a few. Now they finally come into play. Four large mining crafts have been taken into Cybertron's atmosphere, burning up as they descend, being used as missiles. Trenchfoot adds, "I see something else..." The camera zooms in, fuzzy and blurry due to the speed of descent, but there appears to be someone on the outside of one of the crafts, fire roaring past him as they go. Soundwave himself takes no action at the moment, aside from advancing forward, his concussion rifle at the ready, and two Bruiser mechs behind him, carrying a large metal crate. Arms crossed, Bludgeon stands atop one of the mining crafts as it dives towards the forcefield, kamikaze style, a flaming corona whipping around the entire craft. The samurai holds his position, as though his armored boots were mag-locked to the craft's hull. Twice he's charged against Retoris and twice he was repelled. Tonight will be different. Tonight the walls will fall and the Autobots will be shattered, and Bludgeon will feast on the souls of those who fall beneath his blades. The shuttlecraft SLAMS into the forcefield, colliding into it with such force that shockwaves of power ripple throughout the barrier. It explodes in a dazzling display of pyrotechnics, the sound deafening even against the noise of battle. A moment later, a flaming form can be seen falling from the explosion. The darkened figure plummets from the sky like a burning meteor, plunging straight down into the midst of Autobot ranks. It strikes the ground with devastating force, hard enough to crater the ground and send a ripple of force erupting in all directions, flames cast off its burning visage as it lands. Slowly, optics blazing brilliantly from within the flames, Bludgeon rises to his full height. A huge polearm is in one hand, blade ignited with the same ghostly inferno that covers his heavily armored form. As if Normal Bludgeon wasn't bad enough, Burning Bludgeon just arrived, and he looks pissed. Bludgeon transforms into his Skull-Faced Samurai Warrior mode. Harbinger moves along behind the terrain, using what corpses and debris she can to make her small frame even smaller. She finally finds a spot that gives her good coverage of the field, as well as a good view of her fellow Tapes and sets up, crouching as low as she can as she starts to follow a particular target, optics flicking and growing brighter after a second as she relays targeting information to Rumble. Combat: Harbinger takes extra time to assist Rumble's next attack. The Global Pose Tracker marks that Soundwave has 'skipped' his action for this round. Rumble remains back by Soundwave, which is a little bit unusual...typically, he's right at the front in an assault such as this. But currently, he's being relatively restrained. He flies along on his foot-jets, laser-rifle out and taking opportune pot shots at targeted Autobots. Lining up Blaster in his sites, he grins as his tape-sis sends him some extra targeting data. "...This one's for jumpin' on our channel an' talkin on it...ya bum...heheh." Combat: Rumble strikes Blaster with his High-Intensity Pulse Laser (Laser) attack! Ratbat alights upon Soundwave's shoulder, wide magenta wings folding in to his body neatly. The High Auditor surveys the assault of Retoris, his narrowed, optics gleaming in mild but obvious disgust at the amount of energon pooling upon the planet's surface, amidst the chaos and violence. Though Ratbat can not deny the effort is a worthy one. The Wall /will/ fall. One of the Auditor's over-sized ears pivots independently, picking up a ghostly sound in the distance. Noting no visible source, Ratbat probes with a secure radio transmission to one of his cassette-brothers, curious as to whether or not Ravage is in-area. Successful in his coordination, Ratbat returns to look at Soundwave briefly, giving his Commander a nod before taking to the air... Combat: Ratbat sets his defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Ratbat analyzes Prowl for weaknesses Ravage can exploit. <'Autobot'> Grimlock plays something, Blaster style, to inspire his team! http://youtu.be/yE8C1WWixgc Space Shuttle is here, leading Aerospace. He made inroads on the city's defenses last time, and he plans on doing the same this time as well. He watches as the balls of fire approach... and thinks to himself that *should* have been him... why doesn;t he just get to fly in orbit and blast people from space? They *know* he can, but noooo... they always want him closer, in the atmosphere for more accuracy perhaps... and also closer to retaliatory gunfire and lasers, too. *sigh*. Oh well. The shuttle flies in, looking for a target, and the Dinbots are making very obvious ones... so he fires at Sludge, who's sticking his neck out and making a target of it. Of course, that's probably just because he has a very long neck. Combat: Space Shuttle sets his defense level to Guarded. "You're nothing but a bum Blaster!" Strangely, Frenzy stalks behind Soundwave as well, staying out of the fracas at the moment as the larger, beefier and now wreathed in fire, Cons, stalk and crash shuttles at the fore of the battlefield. He does swing out a laser pistol though, taking potshots at any bots within range. "Oh look, dere's Blaster!" How observant of the little con, having just chirped him a moment ago. "Your helmet is stupid!" Combat: Space Shuttle strikes Brontosaurus with his Sticking your neck out can get it shot (Laser) attack! Combat: Frenzy strikes Blaster with his Laser attack! Combat: Frenzy sets his defense level to Neutral. Ravage is indeed in the area - present, but hidden from view by his cloaking systems. The tip of his tail twitches in anticipation as he stalks towards Prowl; he received Ratbat's radio transmission and is putting the information to good use. He becomes visible with no warning, not even a snarl, and he pounces, trying to sink his claws into the Autobot's back. Combat: Suddenly, Ravage appears out of fat air! Combat: Sneak Attack!! Combat: Ravage strikes Prowl with his Rending attack! ~~Water was running; children were running. You were running out of time.. Under the mountain, a golden fountain, Were you praying at the lares shrine? But oh your city lies in dust. Ohhh, oh your city lies in dust, my friend~~ ~~We found you hiding we found you lying,Choking on the dirt and sand ~~Your former glories and all the stories, Dragged and washed with eager hands~~ Prowl watches the incoming balls of fire and plots...calculates. Mass insufficient to destroy shields...However. << This is Prowl! I want the city powered down to a minimum. We need every ounce of power for the shield in the next hour. >> Using ship missiles instead of artillery. It is either a diversion or they are short on artillery. There are explosions everywhere lighting up the sky. Prowl scans far back the enemy line and spots Soundwave and his goon squad...Just before he fires. The rubble's shadows atop the wall were hiding Ravage who pounces on the Autobot, claws diggin deep. "ARRGG! Really not in the mood." He makes a quick grab for Ravage's tail yanks and tries to kick him off the wall! Combat: Prowl sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Prowl strikes Ravage with his Field goal! (Kick) attack! What this now? Me being wall. Why tickled? Me no ticklish. Me wall. Wall no ticklish. Then again me never ask wall. Me no know. Wait that thing no tickle. That Decepticon! Me break. Me like breaking. Almost as cookie. Me can break more than eat cookie though so divide up same. Or other counting thing. Sludge peers at the source of his displeasure, in this case Blast Off, and decides to say hello in his own special way. Playfully he whips his tail towards the tiny, tiny shuttle. <'Autobot'> Trenchfoot says, "Roger that Prowl, uhhh you want the Med Bay and Guns still active, right?" Combat: Brontosaurus sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Brontosaurus misses Space Shuttle with his Hello soon to be broked. (Punch) attack! <'Autobot'> Prowl says, "Yes that is part of the minimum. Half the street lights, power down any non-essential buildings. Power down railcars in the tubes if you have to." <'Autobot'> Trenchfoot says, "Yes, Sir!" Lights flicker in Retoris, then go dark as all but the essential power flow to the city gets diverted. One alien in the residential area immediately starts complaining about his A/C being out. In the dark city, all can hear the combat at their door... As Grimlock strides towards the lines, the majority of the Decepticon's with the strength and power to actually to anything about Grimlock appear none too eager to actually engage with the massive force of fury. "So..them Decepticon's am too scared fight back!?" he asks of the Decepticon's as he leaps up, slamming down into a massive pile of Decepticon's who were taking aim upon the wall. They go flying every direction as the Dinobot lays about him furiously, sending them flying every which direction. A few try to flee him..but. He snaps out a hand, grabbing two of them as they take off into flight. He spins and hurls them, throwing one up towards Blast Off and another around towards Soundwave before kicking a third, already dead, towards Bludgeon. He totally ignores the tapes, in their infinite lack of threat to his own form, as he uses the Decepticon's own forces against them as nothing more than ammunition. Combat: Grimlock strikes Soundwave with his it's the gumby tossin' dino strut (Ruckus) Area attack! -1 Combat: Grimlock strikes Skull-Faced Samurai Warrior with his it's the gumby tossin' dino strut (Ruckus) Area attack! -1 Combat: Critical Hit! Combat: Grimlock misses Space Shuttle with his it's the gumby tossin' dino strut (Ruckus) Area attack! -1 The jamming signal in the area disperses. Wrecker BattleWagon was originally going to get wicked on the approaching Bruisers, but the shouting over the radio gets his attention. The Wrecker battlewagon rolls back a bit, so he can get enough angle to swivel up his railcannon turret in the direction of the descending balls of fire .. oh wait, those as ships. On fire. "Fraggin' Cons are throwin' everything they've got, literally." A ship slams into the forcefield, forcing rerouting of power to keep it up, turning the rest of the city dark. It's not going to be able to hold against many more of those kinds of hits. "Hold tight, bitches." He snaps at the Con troops. "I'll be back fer you in a moment." The sound is like thunder as the railcannon fires again, launching another hypervelocity shell at the kamikazeing minecraft. But it's not just random firing in trying to blow them up. Roadbuster took as much time as he could spare to aim, in hopes of hitting the ship with enough force that even if it isn't destroyed by the impact, it'll knock its course away from slamming into the forcefield. Good thing Grimlock took up stomping through the enemy lines for the moment. Blaster's music fades as he gets blasted on by Cassettecons with tremendous fury and rage. Okay, maybe not all that. It's more of some potshots and slag talking, but still, the lasers burn into his armor with relative ease. Blaster is a pretty big and obvious target, so he takes the blasts in stride. "Word?" is the only response that Blaster has for the Tapes that are dissing him, before he drops in on himself, folding up into the most awesome and obsolete item out here! "Check this tune out, then." The Boombox doesn't have any more music. Not really. Instead, he has some powerfully asinine static noise hurling off in Rumble's direction. Because he's a jerk. o/~ My radio, believe me, I like it loud! I'm the mech that's a box that can rock the crowd! o/~ Play Me: Old School Boombox The Global Pose Tracker marks that Wrecker BattleWagon has 'skipped' his action for this round. Combat: Old School Boombox strikes Rumble with his Radio Static attack! Harbinger stays crouched down behind the body of a dead Seeker, optics scanning the battle still, the recon Tape's duties a bit.. unclear as the fight rages all up and down the Wall. She waits for another chance to support one of her brothers, then flinches as Bludgeon gets hit hard. She starts to gather information, but a missile from somewhere lands with a big boom near the cassette.. and rather then send information she quickly sets her armor active, the small dark tape fading away quickly behind her stealth armor. Combat: Harbinger is no longer apparent in view! in their infinite lack of threat to his own form. - Grimlock, attr. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Obg6dzw-dlg#t=90 Still far out from the battle, or so he thought, Soundwave is watching the fight still, when he makes his decision. "RUMBLE, FRENZY. IT I..." AND THEN A LAUNCHED GUMBY LANDS ON HIM. So much for being dramatic. The Bruiser moans as he pulls himself up, shakes his head, "Err...sorry there, sir...I'll be...I'll be going back to the front lines now." Soundwave puts his arms beneath him and stands back up. He groans once, "RUMBLE...FRENZY. IT IS TIME." The two brutes behind Soundwave drop the metal case, one of which hits part of a keycode, the other entering the last half. Steam pours out of the crate as it transforms...into a large ray of some kind. In its center is the missing generator from Candios! He gestures again before the ray, then takes aim at the two tiny titans of terror. ~~But oh your city lies in dust, ohhh oh your city lies in dust, my friend~~ As the music starts to pick up, the ray activates, sending a purple-ish light towards his two loyal minions. ~~Water was running, Children were running, we found you lying, we found you hiding..~~ Gears shift and change, that low humming sound that accompanies gestalt action starts to increase...as Rumble and Frenzy start to grow in size! The two Cassettecons grow taller, and taller, until they are taller than Soundwave himself, the size of Grimlock! Again Soundwave gestures towards the city, towards the battle. "RUMBLE, FRENZY." He takes a moment to augment his voice, to a clarion call of darkness. ~~YOUR CITY LIES IN DUUUST, OOH OH, OH YOUR CITY LIES IN DUUUST~~ "***'DESTROY RETORIS'!***" <'Autobot'> Roadbuster says, "Okay, who the fraggin' hell gave Soundwave's twirps the mecha-steroids, and where's Hot Spot to give his speech on how cyber-dopin' frags up your innards when you need him?" Soundwave drops Enlarging Ray. <'Autobot'> Sludge says, "Less talk. More break Decepticon. Then cookie." <'Autobot'> Prowl says, "I admit that was unexpected." <'Autobot'> Blaster says, "Wack." <'Autobot'> Grimlock says, "Me Grimlock think this awesome! Finally have someone big enough hit and smash!" If ever there was a time for maniacal Decepticon laughter, this time would be it. Almost Galvatron worthy! A long, hideous cackle on the part of the now grown up Cassette-con. His audio processor responds in same, his pitch lower now. He and his brother Rumble, now taller than Soundwave. A self-bist bump before Frenzy leans over to Rumble and offers another fist bump of his own, super-sized. "Alright, let's show these auto-clowns how to really wreck stuff!" Frenzy transforms into his Giant mode. <'Autobot'> Prowl says, "Give me a second to figure this out." <'Autobot'> Roadbuster says, "Grim, Sludge, if ya wanna show those oversized punks how the big boys -really- play, go for it. Prowl, any fraggin' idea where that ray came from? I was kinda busy shootin' their kamekazi's outta the fraggin' sky." For now though, larger laser blasters in hand, now the size of cannons, Frenzy takes a few more pot-shots, this time spreading the hate around to all the bots in view... Rumble stares, transfixed, as the metal case pops open and Soundwave's secret project is brought forth. When he gets hit by the ray, he staggers a bit as if pushed back by something big, and then...oh yes, he's growing. He grows until he's about the size of Magnus before he stops. For a moment afterward, he looks down at himself, clearly astonished, until Frenzy comes over. "Are you checkin' this out? ARE YOU CHECKIN' THIS OUT?? AHAHAHAHAA!!" He fist-bumps Frenzy with a solid . "TIME FOR SOME MAJOR FRAGGAGE!!" Rumble transforms into his Giant mode. Combat: Giant strikes Grimlock with his Dual Cannons Area attack! Combat: Giant strikes Brontosaurus with his Dual Cannons Area attack! Combat: Giant misses Prowl with his Dual Cannons Area attack! Combat: Giant strikes Old School Boombox with his Dual Cannons Area attack! Ratbat flapflapflap high above the Retoris Wall, spotting his ethereal feline friend targeting data all the while. The High Auditor maintains a vigilant view upon the Autobot's Military Strategist, contentedly waiting for the opportunity to strike himself to be presented - an opportunity to be seized no doubt once Ravage is upon their mutual enemy. With a squee of delight as he witnesses his brother black cat digging his claws into Prowl, Ratbat descends rather awkwardly, intending to also set his fangs into the Autobot's neck! Combat: Ratbat strikes Prowl with his Mecha-Fangs attack! <'Autobot'> Prowl says, "No clue but the power core behind it looks familiar." <'Autobot'> Sludge says, "Me listen to him King Grimlock" <'Autobot'> Sludge says, "What say?" <'Autobot'> Grimlock says, "Me Grimlock say smash big tapes, then little tapes, then him tape player..and then smash any of them Decepticreeps still around.." <'Autobot'> Roadbuster says, "Ugh, Deceptichumps and their McGuffins." Space Shuttle strikes the Brontosaurus, and evades that so-called "playful" tail swipe ...NOPE NOPE NO NONE O' THAT. Then he barrel rolls to avoid another up-close-and-personal encounter with the Decepticon that Grimlock just threw at him... again NOPE. And now it seems it's one shuttle against two Dinobots. Well. Hmm. Hey, he's BLAST OFF. He's magnificent!!! He swoops in, unleashing a barrage of gunfire at Grimlock this time... and hoping he remains faster than the Dinbots are. Then he takes one moment to points scanners towards Rumble and Frnezy and... well, he'd almost think he'd been drinking too much wine, but he hasn't had any yet. Nope, they really are HUGE. As big as HE IS, what the slag? Hmm. Suddenly he's a bit happy he's managed to be cordial with Rumble lately. Combat: Space Shuttle strikes Grimlock with his Ok- maybe it's not just me vs the Dinobots anymore attack! -6 Three points to Prowl! Ravage snarls as the Autobot's foot launches him clear off the wall. Cats aren't meant to fly, and he lands hard on a pile of rubble down below. He rights himself with a low growl and dashes off in search of a new target, leaving Prowl to Ratbat. There's a very familiar green and orange vehicle out there, trying to shoot down the mining crafts. That won't do at all. Ravage scampers towards Roadbuster, and claws at the Autobot's wheels. Hopefully this will be enough of a distraction! Combat: Ravage sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Ravage strikes Wrecker BattleWagon with his Rending attack! -1 Bludgeon spots the gumby flying towards him and spins, polearm twirling through the air, slashing clean through the body before it collides with him. Unfortunately, the blow causes a critical reaction within the fallen soldier, triggering an explosion, showering the samurai with debris and fragments. One hand wipes the energon off his skull-mask as he eyes Grimlock warily. Finally someone worth his effort. The samurai charges towards the Dinobot commander, easily the biggest and strongest opponent he can find. Fire still wreathe around him, his naginata polearm gleaming in the light cast by his flames. He stops halfway to the hulking Autobot, spinning and impaling a nearby Autobot gumby, punching the blade clean through his chest and skewering him like a shiskabob. Sparks emit from the Autobot's wound, both of his hands feebly clutching at the weapon of his demise. Mercilessly, Bludgeon spins, hoisting the gumby off the ground and spinning, launching the dying figure back towards Grimlock in mockery of the Autobot's own tactics. The gumby's optics dim as he sails through the air, laser-core shorting out, flames sailing in his wake from the blazing naginata. Giant Rumble ventures forth into battle like a kid into a playground, throwing down on the first Autobot he comes across. And that would be....SLUDGE! He just runs up to the Dinobot who hasn't done a single thing against him, and just starts punching at him. Oh, and there's something wrong with Rumble, too. His targeting systems are sparking a little... Combat: Skull-Faced Samurai Warrior strikes Grimlock with his Flaming Wreckage attack! -3 Combat: Giant Rumble's Right Cross attack on Brontosaurus goes wild! Combat: Giant Rumble strikes Ravage with his Right Cross (Punch) attack! <'Autobot'> Prowl says, "Anyone need support?" "That not even tickle now" Sludge says as he forms part of the defensive wall and casually whips, stomps figures into appropriate insignificance. Sludge, with a disdainful shrug, whips his tail lazily at Blast Off as he cowardly runs away. Ooo! They not so small any more! Yes. Me fed up breaking small thing. Very fiddly. Hope him King Grimlock say me get to break. Say we break. Talking button! Me break! Charging off in the direction of the supersized tapes he crashes into Rumble after getting hit by Frenzy's shot blackening his armor. Not focused but maybe the force of the sudden stop done something to Rumble. Combat: Brontosaurus strikes Giant Rumble with his oops! Me stop now. (Kick) attack! Okay..admittedly, Grimlock hadn't ever seen this. "Me Grimlock wish Kup here, him probably seen giant sized tapes before, tell good story about while smashing.." he muses disappointedly, before he gets blasted by SuperSizaFrenzy. The Dinobot actually staggers back just a tiny bit, before he gets blasted by Blast Off from flying around, and then plastered by a flaming chunk of wreckage from Bludgeon. It's enough to actually make the Dinobot growl in annoyance at the three of them laying into him. "Okay..that it. Now me Grimlock am ANGRY!" he says as he charges forward towards Frenzy. Okay, so it's not like Grimlock has much speed, but when he builds it up it's like a freight train hauling across the battlefield. There are still the hordes of Decepticon's to contend with as well, and as he drives towards Frenzy he slashes and chops several of them out of the way before he finally reaches the oversized creation of Soundwaves. "Him Frenzy may be big, but still squishy little tape thing at heart!" he declares as he leaps up, driving a knee towards Frenzy's midsection before bringing his sword stabbing downward, hoping to double the oversized tape up and drive a sword into the once-litte-con's back. Combat: Grimlock strikes Giant Frenzy with his Dinobot Sword of Monster Slaying +3 attack! -3 Prowl is puzzled at the whole enlarging beam thing and now having to deal with two bigger little punks. However he seems to miss Ratbat amongst all the blasts, flying debris. The Decepticon manages a solid bite in Prowl's neck. "What?!" He goes Ratbat's wing. Yanks him off of him and raises his rifle a little bit firing point-blank from the hip at the tape. Combat: Ratbat expertly evades Prowl's attack! Combat: Prowl misses Ratbat with his Acid-Pellet Rifle attack! -4 Fathom shifts back into his root mode. Fathom had been tuned out to the world, audials switched to some debate radio station as he moves up and down the interior of the wall's scaffolding. He'd been helping Operations repair what they could, and only realizes they're under attack when red warning lights flash. "Slag, we're never going to get this patched up!" Exitting through the hatches facing outwards, he pauses to behold the rather terrifying sight of oversized cassettes. Namely Rumble and Frenzy. "What in th'..." Welp, they seem occupied at least. He eyes the core warily, then pauses, picking up on something that's being stealthy nearby. Drawing a katar, he steps forward slowly, sending out impossibly high sonar pings to try and pin down the sneaky tape. Combat: Fathom searches for Harbinger. Combat: Harbinger has been found! Blaster catches a blast like crazy in the facial helmet by Dual Cannons of Doom and ends up pulling back. He's leaking out Energon all over the place and sends a transmission to Prowl saying something to effect of him going to do something to help the city. He's off to COMMUNICATE. To top it all off, Rumble and Frenzy get turned into giants!.. well, giants compared to most transformers. They're about as big as the Dinobots or himself would be. Still, Roadbuster only has one real way to sum this up. "Ugh. Deceptichumps and their McGuffins." Plus there's still all these troops marching about. Decepticons usually hide in the back lines when they're using super weapons or such. So, if it's back there, then all this army is between him and it. That's a big mess of smeg to deal with. Roadbuster is okay with that. Ravage latchs onto a tire, good thing his heavy duties aren't rubber! It ends up with the cat clinging to his leg instead afterwards. With a much bigger issue in mind, he doesn't really seem to notice, other than shaking Ravage off again. And instead pulling his assault rifle out in one hand and another smaller rifle in the other. Both click ominously as their safeties are switched off and start reving up. "Guess we're doing this the hard way." Pause. "The FUN way." And with that Roadbuster goes in Rambo style, both guns roaring to life in a blaze of fury as he charges towards the Decepticon forces, leaving a shower of empty shell casings in his wave as he does so. Soundwave may catch some of the flak of the sprays of full-auto fire as Roadbuster goes for mowing down whatever is in his wake to get closer towards that enlarger device. "WRECK 'N' RULE!" The heavily armored battlewagon rises up into an equally heavily armored and armed Wrecker commando. Combat: Roadbuster sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Roadbuster strikes Soundwave with his Frag Em All And Let Primus Sort It Out attack! Combat: Critical Hit! Combat: Soundwave falls to the ground, unconscious. Combat: Roadbuster's weapon has jammed! Soundwave stands there proudly, his assault was working perfectly. And while Omega Supreme still slept there nearby, it would take a lot to get him moving, diverting all that energon for him to transform....it was a great idea. Either the Bots activate Omega Supreme and divert Energon from Retoris' shield, or they go without their stalwart protector. The Tape Commander actually puts a hand on his hip, extremely pleased with himself. His abdomen explodes shortly thereafter. Smouldering, Soundwave's optical visor opens a hair, representing his dismay as he staggers backwards, clutching his torso, and then hits the ground, two-shotted out of commission. Always so close to success, and always paying the price for his reach exceeding his grasp. That's his lot in life. Giant Rumble has *no* idea that he swung his punch so wide, he managed to hit poor Ravage and wasn't even CLOSE to hitting Sludge. But he sure feels it when Sludge tramples on him! He prepares for a flattening, but...doesn't get it! Whaaaa? -- Oh, that's RIGHT, he's BIG now! This shouldn't be a problem. Soundwave has everything in hand, like usual! His optic band is still sparking a bit as Rumble charges after Sludge again, looking to grapple with him. "Hold still ya big doof! This is MY MOMENT. My moment to be like...like a really big an' bad-aft gladiator!" Combat: Giant Rumble strikes Brontosaurus with his Bedrock Shatter (Smash) attack! Well, Giant Frenzy didn't actually expect to hit anyone, let alone Grimlock. Also, as the giant Freight-dino-train-bot comes crashing into him, slamming him down and across the ground. "Argh! Not so easy now when I'm your size eh? Dino-mutt!" A sword of flaming doom cuts through his chest armor, what little there is of it anyways. "Blargh! Jurassic Jerk! Git off me!" Then Soundwave goes down in a couple of shots, Frenzy letting out a 'Noooooooooo~!', his hand outstretched in dramatic slow mo fashion. A single energon tear crawls down his cheek before he growls back at the Dinobot leader. "Okay, time for an express trip of my fist to your face!" Combat: Giant Frenzy strikes Grimlock with his Get it offa me!!! (Smash) attack! Space Shuttle shifts wing elevons and lifts up higher again, circling around for another shot... when he sees a strange Autobot wandering around the battlefield... one who has just exposed Harbinger's whereabouts! The shuttle moves in... Harbinger has been somewhat... annoying at times, but she also tried to get him some wine at the Olympics, so she's obviously not ALL that bad. And she's still better than any pathetic Autofool. Wing-mounted lasers lock onto the Autobot. < don't know who you are, nor does it matter. You're going to be known as /slag/ soon enough.>> And he fires at Fathom! Ratbat hisses like a grumpy housecat as Prowl grabs at one of his wings, pulling him away, kick and squeeing, from savoring more of the Autobot's delicious energon. Ratbat's ugly muzzle is covered in the stuff, and he seems entranced by the sight of it running down in rivulets along the Military Strategist's neck. Ratbat thirsts for more! Though he is deterred as soon as Prowl pulls out that rifle, and with a squee of fear he flapflapflaps to safety, ducking behind a pile of rubble just in time! Though from his newfound vantage point, Ratbat is greeted with the sight of his Commander being felled in one shot from Roadbuster's obscene weaponry! Ratbat squees in anger, flapflapflapping after Roadbuster to glean his vengeance - but in the way stands one beastly looking Dinobot! Ratbat, incensed, swoops in to deal with Sludge before moving on to suck Roadbuster's fuel lines dry. Combat: Ratbat strikes Brontosaurus with his Mecha-Fangs attack! Combat: Space Shuttle strikes Fathom with his New name=SLAG. Not to be confused with the Dinobot. (Laser) attack! -1 Bludgeon's attention is drawn by the newly arrived giant forms as Grimlock suddenly ignores him, and he narrows his hollowed optics in frustration. 'What a waste of such power.' He muses to himself. Explosions erupt somewhere behind him, but he fails to notice. 'To give so much strength to such foolish little children when it could have been given birth to a true vessel of annihilation.' He watches as Soundwave is quickly cut down. Apparently his folly wastes no time in karma-bitchslapping him. But Bludgeon slowly turns his attention elsewhere. He stalks back towards the ranks of Autobots, flames slowly licking around him. He spins his naginata in one hand, casting off the fresh energon from its gleaming blade. It stains the ground he passes by, smoking from the heat of his burning polearm. Several of the Autobots open fire on him, but he ignores their weaponsfire. "Face me.." He whispers, voice projecting and reverberating from within the pretender shell. "..and despair." He plunges headfirst into their ranks, flames trailing along in his wake as he breaks into their lines. Harbinger just kinda.. sits there for a second, not even realizing that her armor had been countered as she watches Pops fall over, the small Femme's head tilting to the side as she tries to deal with that information. Then.. a giggle escapes her, and she just kinda slow turns her head towards Roadbuster. She gets up slowly and just starts walking towards the Wrecker.. and slowly builds up speed, one of the few things she is fairly good at, covering the distance in a rather quick fashion before she uses her flight system as well as handgrips on Roadbuster to climb the Wrecker, and straddles his shoulder before she just starts trying to hammer her rather small fists into Roadbuster's haed, "YOU.." and proceeds to go through her entire library of curses she has learned from Rumble and various others. Combat: Harbinger sets her defense level to Fearless. Combat: Harbinger strikes Roadbuster with her Headsmack attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Roadbuster's Agility. (Crippled) <'Decepticon'> Ratbat says, "Rumble, Frenzy! Stay to task! Break that Wall in half! We must not lose sight of our objective here. We shall avenge the Commander!" <'Decepticon'> Curbstomp says, "Uh yeah, he's sorta...well shredded by gunfire. We're evaccing him now." Ravage clings to Roadbuster's tire as long as he can, until something huge and heavy pounds him into the ground, and he is easily brushed off by the larger Autobot. That something turns out to be... giant Rumble's fist. The mecha-panther gives his fellow cassette a warning hiss before chasing after Roadbuster, who has just managed to fill Soundwave's chest with bullets. He snarls his fury as the blue mech collapses, and launches a proton bomb at the Wrecker. Chew on this. <'Decepticon'> Rumble says, "WHAT! ...Well, that." Combat: Ravage strikes Roadbuster with his Proton Bombs Area attack! Combat: Ravage strikes Brontosaurus with his Proton Bombs Area attack! Combat: Ravage strikes Fathom with his Proton Bombs Area attack! Combat: Ravage strikes Grimlock with his Proton Bombs Area attack! Combat: Ravage strikes Harbinger with his Proton Bombs Area attack! <'Decepticon'> Ratbat says, "Soundwave would rather you decimate that Wall than a Wrecker." This better than cookie! Not small thing! What him . . . me-no-know-who doing? Yay! Real fight! Real breaking! Real proper size. Ravage fires off a shot his way and . . . that exlpodes neatly on his massive hide. Sludge takes a moment to . . . ow. Buzzy thing bit me! Sludge growls. Enraged He lashes at the supersized Rumble full force now to finish one fight and track down Ratbat. Sludge may be upset beyond the restorative powers of one cookie. Maybe two. Unfortunately his blow's directed at Rumble just now. Combat: Brontosaurus strikes Giant Rumble with his sorry. Blame Ratbat. attack! Prowl watches Soundwave go down and smiles a little bit. << Nice shot Roabuster. If you can...make your way towards Soundwave's position to recover the beam and the power source. You are the closest at the moment. >> He eyes the battlefield and ponders his next move. He watches as Ravage opens up with some heavy ordonnance and watches how the cat moves around. Combat: Prowl analyzes Ravage for weaknesses. Zipline has arrived. The fact that Frenzy turns back to Grimlock and drives a massive fist into his face doesn't do much for Grimlock's mood..although he's fortunate that despite Frenzy being oversized, "Him Frenzy still hit like tape!" he declares. The proton bomb launched from Ravage on the other hand does a fair bit of damage, smashing into the Dinobot's back. He rocks forward, and ends up smoldering as he suddenly transforms, growling in anger. He roars as he finishes his transformation, ending up in the massive dinosaur form before grabbing at Frenzy with his huge jaws and trying to throw the oversized tape-con towards his much, much smaller cat brother. Grimlock leans forward as his dinosaur head flips into place, armor closing about his form as he transforms into his massive T-Rex form with a mighty roar. Combat: Giant Robot T-Rex strikes Giant Frenzy with his Grimlock SMAAASH Area attack! Combat: Giant Robot T-Rex strikes Ravage with his Grimlock SMAAASH Area attack! Fathom catches "sight" of Harbinger's silhouette, but gets shot from above for his trouble. With part of his leg armor ripped open and glowing from the heat, he glares skywards. It's that damn shuttle from the underground lake. No chance at hitting him from down here. He doesn't have much time to think, with Ravage's crazy bombs blasting him right off his feet. He skids several yards and instinctively volleys back a burst of deafening pings, enough to fry audials. Combat: Fathom sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Fathom strikes Ravage with his Piercing Echo Area attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily limited Ravage's Agility! (Crippled) Combat: Fathom misses Space Shuttle with his Piercing Echo Area attack! If Blaster was still here he'd probably start playing 'Let The Bodies Hit The Floor' as Roadbuster is gunning his way through whatever Decepticon ranks get in his way, as well as pump enough rounds into Soundwave to drop the enemy tape deck out of the fight. The storm of bullets doesn't stop until there's empty casings litering the ground, and the auto-loader starts to smoke as it jams from the strain, forcing the Wrecker to finally let up. "Of all the fraggin'.." He grunts, smacking the weapong with his hand to try and clear the device. Then Harbringer lands on his shoulder. "Geez, how many of these runts does that bastard hav--" There's a clang as she slugs his head. "--Must be hell payin'--" He tries to swat at her with a hand, but another punch, another clang. "--All that child support!" He tries again, but she keeps hitting faster than he can swat. Harbringer isn't doing a lot of damage, its true, but she manages to keep his attention long enough for Ravage to let loose -his- revenge for dropping the uncharasmatic blue bore. And THAT actually gets the Wrecker to take notice as the photonic blast sheers through the outer layers of his bulk. "Well, frag. Com'here you." Finally he gets a chance to grab at her, and then toss her off to the side. "Go 'way, I got business to deal with." Combat: Roadbuster strikes Harbinger with his It's like trying to flick off a tick attack! -2 Combat: Giant Rumble sets his defense level to Aggressive. <'Autobot'> Fathom says, "Uhm! Who's commanding here?" <'Autobot'> Sludge says, "Me. Joking." Giant Rumble howls angrliy as he's toppled over by Sludges lumbering form, and his armor is even crushed a bit. "NGGGGHHH..." Rumble struggles to get back up, and he glares at Sludge angrily. "You think this is some kinda GAME?? I assure you that it is NOT, ya big -can of rusty tankworms!" The 'Joe Pesci' accent he usually has is still there, although it sounds several octaves deeper, adding to the bizarre factor. He then pulls what were his laser-rifles off his back...but they're no longer puny pea-shooters, they look more like Wrecker-sized cannons. He levels them at Sludge. "I'll fill your so fulla holes, you'll be frickin' transparent!" Combat: Giant Rumble strikes Brontosaurus with his Dual Cannons attack! <'Autobot'> Prowl says, "I am!" <'Autobot'> Roadbuster says, "Little pests... What's the site rep out there?" <'Autobot'> Grimlock says, "Me Grimlock not take orders from him PROWL!? ME GRIMLOCK am in command! Say SMASH all DECEPTICONS until not move any more!" <'Autobot'> Fathom says, "What's our directive Prowl?" <'Autobot'> Sludge says, "Me breaking them King Grimlock. Me breaking!" Ratbat wraps his wings around Sludge's long neck, holding himself there tightly while he digs his fangs in between the seams of the Dinobot's heavy armor segments. Ratbat travels up along Sludge's neck plates, puncturing cables and lines as he climbs to the top of the beast's head. The High Auditor digs his wing-claws after Sludge's optics, throwing his wing plates over him in an attempt to blind the Dinobot, while he begins to nibble on the top of Sludge's cranium, boring holes to suck at the Dinobot's processor-juice. Combat: Ratbat strikes Brontosaurus with his Lizard Lobotomy attack! Ravage makes a mental note to apologize to Harbinger later. He hadn't intended for her to get caught in the blast radius, and a moment later, karma is delivered in the form of Frenzy crashing down on top of him. He bats harmlessly at Frenzy with his paws, trying to give him an incentive to get off before he's flattened into sheet metal. Combat: Ravage takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Harbinger feels herself being picked up and tossed.. but the small 'Con still tries to grab at Roadbuster's hand and wrap herself around it and not let go. Combat: Harbinger misses Roadbuster with her Grab attack! Harbinger instead goes flying, a little black Mech going for a flight. <'Autobot'> Prowl says, "The dinobots and taking care of the two giant punks which is what we need right now. We need to hold the wall and city. Tonight Retoris lives or die and it is up to us to make sure it lives." <'Autobot'> Roadbuster says, "Who else needs a slaggin' then?" <'Autobot'> Prowl says, "We also need to recover that enlarging ray and it's power source." <'Autobot'> Sludge says, "Buzzy thing! Bit me twice now!" <'Autobot'> Roadbuster says, "That device is.. here somewhere. Probably under the bodies. Soundwave's out though, so dunno if it's any good." Space Shuttle strikes Fathom, too and *Yawn*- ya know, come to think of it, he always hits, right?... he really should just stop posing about hits and only pose on that /surpremely rare/ occasion when he *misses*... if and when it actually occurs. Ahem. Anyway, then the strange Autobot fires back and... well, honestly, this is almost as mundane, but Blast Off (get ready for it...get ready for it.....) /evades the attack/. Ok, now that we have that smarmy little totally IC-appropriate egotistical bit out of the way, onward to real business! Or actually... maybe we'll just have some more of that smarmy, aggravating, totally ICly appropriate ego for ya: <> And he lets loose a volley of bombardments at Fathom! "Tis but a sr-WOAH!" So much for his shakespeare soliloqui. He flies through the air after Grimlock still manages to toss him around like a chew toy and straight into Ravage, landing square ontop of the cat-con. "Oo jeez kitty! Incoming!" *CRASH* His new size doesn't make it any easier for Ravage either. He basically spends his new cycle getting up and dusting himself off as he leaks energon visibly, teeth marks exposing precious insides. "Fine! You wanna play like that? I'll play!...*bbbzzk!* Okay, maybe after a few seconds." He takes a knee and tries to get his systems semi functioning again. Combat: Giant Frenzy takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Combat: Giant Frenzy sets his defense level to Guarded. Combat: Space Shuttle strikes Fathom with his EGO BLAST!!!! attack! -5 <'Decepticon'> Frenzy says, "Hey Ratbat, after your done drinking that dino like a big lizard energon cube, you mind giving me a refuel? Seein as boss man don't need it no more?" Brontosaurus transforms into his Sludge mode. Sludge doesn't know the meaning of the word inspired. Fortunately he does need to do so to have been so. Ravage's recent attack has reminded Sludge that he has ordinance of his own. Rumble blasting him point blank was also a suitable Sludge-sized reminder. He transforms, readies his rocket launcher and . . . . . . . . . After remimbering the button that makes it fire . . . he pushes it. Aiming may have helped. Combat: Sludge strikes Giant Rumble with his it this one. No this one! attack! Prowl continues giving orders over the radio. Things are looking...stable for now. Prowl spots Ravage and lines up the cat in his sights. His thumb flicks the fire selector to single shot. "Got you now..." The finger slowly presses the trigger sending a single acid pellet at the Decepticon saboteur. Combat: Prowl strikes Ravage with his Acid-Pellet Rifle attack! -4 Combat: Critical Hit! Fathom winces as Blast Off rains fire upon him. Bad situation, as he's fairly outmatched. He glances up at the wall's turrets, though the parapets certainly don't provide much cover. A seeker's severed wing will have to do for now. He grabs the makeshift shield, holds it over his head and makes for the wall. Combat: Fathom sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Fathom takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Grimlock finds himself, for the moment, with nothing huge to smash mercilessly into pieces and so wades back into the lines. The swarms of Decepticon's don't appear to have expected the dinobot inquisition..which isn't particularly unusual. He starts smashing and thrashing, sending pieces and bodies flying every direction as he heads towards a massive siege tank with eager roaring. The thing is as big as he is, and Grimlock doesn't slow down as he stomps up to it. Biting into the side, he rears back and lifts the thing right off of the ground, shaking it a couple of times before sending it hurtling through the air end over end. He doesn't even aim, it's just Harbinger's poor luck that she happens to be in the landing zone of that huge tank as it bounces along. Combat: Giant Robot T-Rex strikes Harbinger with his all the little tapes want to play catch today attack! -5 Combat: Harbinger falls to the ground, unconscious. Marching through Decepticon bodies littering the ground, nothing new here. Some of them might be dead. Others are just unconcious like Soundwave there. Roadbuster was going for coverage more than lethality at the time. He steps over Soundwave's form and stoops down to pick up the enlargement device. Except not all the Bruisers prove to be dead and gone, as one of them jumps on the Wrecker from behind! He manages to drag the big mech back upright, and another one comes in to slam his hammer into Roadbuster's midsection with a metal crunching blow. "Actually felt that." His rifle is already overheated and useless, so he *SMASHES* the butt end over the head of his assailant. But the other Bruisers are still trying to dogpile on top of him. Not to mention there's still other Autobots getting in over their heads. Like trying to deal with the Combaticon who's ego is as big as his altmode. Hmph. Roadbuster grabs one of the bruisers by the face to shove him out of the way so he can aim his shoulder launcher, trying to get a bead on Blast Off while struggling off his own assailants. But he can take the beating for a bit. Fanthom can't. And even if the missile he fires off misses, maybe it'll at least take some of the heat off of the aqua-archeologist. Combat: Roadbuster strikes Space Shuttle with his Shrapnel Missile Launcher attack! Soundwave was down, and the Cassettecons were starting to lose ground and members. Roadbuster alone starts causing an entire flank to pull back. Yet there were still great warriors in the midst. Frenzy and Rumble were still large and in charge, Blast Off was never to be underestimated and Ratba...oh who are we kidding, it's just up to Rumble, Frenzy, and Blast Off now. Unceremoniously, Soundwave is dragged to a medical transport and thrown in next to ten other beaten and chewed up gumbies. "Man..." One of the Bruisers says, "We always seem to lose right at the most needed part." The other shrugs, lights an enercig, and says, "Just forget it, Tirejack...it's Friday." The transport starts up, pulling away from the fight. The four Marauders left in motion start to transform into their hover altmode, as the assault team starts to withdraw. "Heh..." Rumble chuckles this crazy kind of chuckle when Sludge hits him with a missile. "Know what??" He stares for a minute, curious at the hole the missile blasted into his armor, but then he snaps back to attention. "Know what??" he repeats, the embiggening process probably affecting his processor to some unknown degree. "I'm gonna smash the outta YOU, *AND* this city, an' there ain't nothing you can do to stop me! Cause I'm kinda godlike, now! Heheheh." He swings his leg around to try and jab Sludge in the side. Combat: Giant Rumble strikes Sludge with his Step Off! (Kick) attack! Harbinger lands with a thumb against a large chunk of debris, the Femme's head smacking into it roughly, a small dent appearing in it as well as her haed. She slumps down to the gruond, and slowly gets up in a wobbling fashion, "Stupid.. ." She starts to say more, but at the moment seems to be having enough issues just staying standing never mind moving. Combat: Harbinger sets her defense level to Neutral. Ravage climbs out of the crater that Frenzy's landing had left him in. Being flattened in such a manner has knocked some components loose and damaged others. He limps out of the fray, though at the speed he's going, he's an easy target for Prowl. The acid pellet rips through his battered armor - not much time before it starts dissolving his internal systems. Time to run. He makes a quick stop where Harbinger is, and gently clamps his teeth down around her wrist. <> he comms to her, and begins trying to tug his fellow cassette along to safety. Combat: Ravage begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Space Shuttle , Ratbat, Roadbuster, Prowl, and Fathom Sky Lynx has arrived. Giant Frenzy crawls off of Ravage, grumbling and cursing before he eyes the wall and then Harbinger falls. This is looking worse and worse for the 4 tapes left. "Still not enough juice for for a coup de blast, dangit! Ravage, Ratbat! One of yous cons need to get that, or not." He heads for the wall, ready to try and tear down the wall! Not before he takes cover behind a surplus of wreckage and he takes another cycle to recharge. Combat: Giant Frenzy takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Space Shuttle IS suddenly hit... but not by Fathom, but by a shot from somewhere else in the battlefield! It rips across his fuselage and strikes one of his wing lasers, damaging some of his weaponry systems. Slag. The shuttle rumbles and rolls with the hit, catching himself before he starts heading downward and scanning for just who made that shot. Ah. Time to WRECK someone. The Combaticon circles in towards Roadbuster. <> The shuttle launches an orbital bombardment at the Autobot! Combat: Space Shuttle strikes Roadbuster with his Again- I don't mean the Dinobot here (Laser) attack! <'Autobot'> Roadbuster says, "Y'okay Fanthom?" <'Autobot'> Fathom says, "Yeah, I just can't do much against that arrogant airborn aftface." <'Autobot'> Fathom says, "But er, you're the one taking heavy fire. From what I can see." <'Autobot'> Grimlock says, "Me Grimlock take him Fathom, show him how shoot him Blast Off sometime." <'Autobot'> Prowl says, "Can you guys handle Blast Off or should I take him down?" <'Autobot'> Roadbuster says, "Nuttin' new there. I can take it. See if ya can find that device." <'Autobot'> Grimlock says, "Me Grimlock think should draw straws for who gets smash him Blast Off. Me Grimlock smash while you go find paper to draw them straws on." <'Autobot'> Sludge says, "Stop big tapes destroying city! They going to now!" Ratbat continues to nibble on Sludge's brain, though not surprisingly there is little there in the way of fuel to be stolen. Disgruntled at the fruits of his labor, the High Auditor flapflapflap his magenta wings and takes off from his Dinobot perch, gaining altitude and sailing on over toward his giant brethren. As requested, Ratbat alights upon Rumble, and latches his fangs into the side of the giant's neck. Microscopic holes at the tips of Ratbat's teeth provide a path for regurgitation, and the energon that he's managed to steal over the course of the battle begins to course into the huge Decepticon's veins. Combat: Ratbat deploys his reserve energon tank. Combat: Ratbat refuels Giant Rumble's energon reserves. Sludge wonders how he did that. Because he, very much so, wants to do it again. Explosions are fun! Especially up close. Rumble didn't seem to like it as much though as a kick to Sludges side worries him. The fight's not over . . . is it? "No! Fight not done yet! Me break you, then buzzy thing then cookie. That how this go. That how this meant to be!" Determined he lines up another shot at Rumble and fires. Him Sludge know. It Rum-ble. Not Run-ble. Combat: Sludge strikes Giant Rumble with his one more button. It fire again. attack! Prowl watches as the Decepticons start to retreat. << They are starting to pull back. Keep pushing! Make them pay for every step they take! >> He get kneels down behind some rubble to take a breather. The Autobot scans the battlefield and covers Fathom. Combat: Prowl sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Prowl takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Grimlock is stomping around the battlefield, looking for the giant sized tape con he threw, and still having no luck finding the punky little deceptikid despite the overgrown stature. Of course, this does nothing for Grimlocks mood. "ME GRIMLOCK WANT SMASH HIM FRENZY MORE!" he roars out as he wades into the hordes of Decepticon frontliners who are still assaulting the city, though assuredly, the hordes have to be lessening by now. The Dinobot starts snapping into them with his jaws, slapping with his tail, and even jumping up and down a few times as he basically throws a giant temper tantrum in the middle of the battle field. The effects are...catastrophic. As Grimlock lays waste to the decepticon lines, he flings pieces and parts in all directions, hurtling seeker and tankcon pieces far and wide, not caring where they land or who they injure in the process. Combat: Giant Robot T-Rex strikes Giant Rumble with his dinobot temper tantrum Area attack! -5 Combat: Ratbat expertly evades Giant Robot T-Rex 's attack! Combat: Giant Robot T-Rex misses Ratbat with his dinobot temper tantrum Area attack! -5 Combat: Giant Robot T-Rex strikes Ravage with his dinobot temper tantrum Area attack! -5 Combat: Ravage falls to the ground, unconscious. Combat: Giant Robot T-Rex misses Space Shuttle with his dinobot temper tantrum Area attack! -5 Combat: Giant Robot T-Rex strikes Fathom with his dinobot temper tantrum Area attack! -5 Combat: Giant Robot T-Rex strikes Roadbuster with his dinobot temper tantrum Area attack! -5 Combat: Giant Robot T-Rex strikes Sludge with his dinobot temper tantrum Area attack! -5 Fathom peeks out from behind the seeker wing and vents a sigh of relief when Blast Off goes after Roadbuster. That guy's pretty tough. Prompted by Prowl, he tosses the wing aside and rushes out to secure the device. He has to duck behind the damn thing to evade Grimlock's tantrum effects, but can't dodge everything and gets whacked by a severed foot. "Augh! Slaggit... Right. Core." With some quick techy work, he frees the core and turns back towards Prowl. Probably bleeding from the head. The Global Pose Tracker marks that Fathom has 'skipped' his action for this round. Soundwave takes Enlarging Ray. Yes, that worked to get the Combaticon's attention. The shots burn holds in his plating, but Roadbuster stands there like an immovable object as they do so. "Not the first to try, not gonna be the last, either." Not to mention the combaticon is horrible at battlefield insults. Roadbuster finally manages to grab one of the guys grappling on him and shove him away. Most of them try to scatter, only to get trampled under Grimlock's stampedge. Roadbuster steps out of the way, but still gets a whomp from the dinobot's tail that staggers him a few steps. "Heh. Save smackin' me for the Team event, Grim Reaper!" Now where was he... Oh, right. Back to Blast Off. "What's with that color, anyways?" Lacking a working heavy rifle at the moment, Roadbuster instead pulls the shorter guns off his back, holding the carbine up one-handed like it was an oversized pistol and firing off a few shots at the shuttle-con. "Looks like Astrotrain crapped out a turd in space!" Combat: Roadbuster strikes Space Shuttle with his Wrecker Handcannon attack! <'Autobot'> Fathom says, "Commander, I have it!" <'Autobot'> Grimlock says, "Have what? Me Grimlock not tell you go get anything. Him Fathom get back in fight and shoot Decepticons!" <'Autobot'> Fathom says, "U-uhm!" <'Autobot'> Prowl says, "Excellent! I am covering your retreat. Get back towards the wall. Prowler squad seven, I want an airtight cordon around Fathom." <'Autobot'> Trenchfoot says, "We're on it, Sir! You heard the Commander, Forcefield support on Fathom's retreat from the field!" Ravage is hit by a flying chunk of scrap metal as he retreats. There's a solid WHUNK as it strikes the back of his head, and the mecha-panther drops like a rock, his optics dark. Thud. What was left of Ravage goes down, "Bloody hell! Alright Rumble! Let's let them have some sonic devastation! Show em what we Cassette's can really do! He's hugged up against the wall, out of range of Grimlock at the moment. Unfortunately, the size of Frenzy now, his sonic screech is about to tear a new hole in this wall faster than Blurr at an energon buffet. @emit Imagine, all the most annoying sounds you can think of, and then turn them up to 11 and then add in an excruciating painful optic disrupting effect, this is what happens when Frenzy looses his giant sized Drum Screech! Combat: Giant Frenzy sets his defense level to Fearless. Except a fuse blows and Frenzy goes still for a moment...silently cursing over the comm. <'Decepticon'> Frenzy says, "Curse the day Primus was created! Still too low on energon to pull off a big bang! Ratbat, can use some juice if you got any left?" Giant Rumble gets badly injured while facing down Sludge -- then because he's not terribly agile in this larger form, Grimlock manages to nearly finish him off. For Rumble, this can only mean one thing: go out fighting, just like his old man. He smirks at Giant Frenzy -- wow, his brother managed to warn him ahead of time before doing the drum screech, he'll have to thank him for that later because at least he'll go out with his audials turned off and protected from that mess. Turns out, Rumble has pylons in this giant mode. And they're really, really large pylons. These are not just going to make little cracks in the ground...this might end up cracking through a few layers of metal ground. "Oh, yeah. This one's worth goin' out for," he says with a maniacal grin. Ratbat squee, "Not so fast, porpoise! Drop the weapon lest I fill my belly with your blooood!" And with a foreboding flapflapflap, the High Auditor jumps from Rumble's shoulder to slowly-but-surely-fear-inducingly descend upon Fathom, taloned toes outstreched to dig into the Autobot's back. With a hellacious hiss, Ratbat rears back to thrust his pointy fangs into the dolphinbot's neck, ravenous in his hunger for good guy fuel! ...but duty calls. It would seem that Frenzy could use being topped off. :( Grumbling in annoyance, Ratbat begrudgingly releases his hold upon Fathom to flapflapflap over to Frenzy, "Another time, Autobot! Fear my return, for I yearn for sea food! Muwahaha!" and he then dumps the rest of his energon reserves into the Giant Cassette, so that he may proceed to annihilate the Autobots. Combat: Ratbat refuels Giant Frenzy's energon reserves. Combat: Giant Rumble strikes Sludge with his Planet Buster Area attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily limited Sludge's Agility! (Crippled) Combat: Giant Rumble strikes Roadbuster with his Planet Buster Area attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily limited Roadbuster's Agility! (Crippled) Combat: Giant Rumble misses Giant Robot T-Rex with his Planet Buster Area attack! A last minute save from Ratbat and Frenzy's optics glow a bright red as his energon systems are topped off nearly over-capacity and now that deafening cacophany blasts out, reverberating off the wall, sending waves of over 200db screeching sounds blasting across the battlefield. Combat: Giant Frenzy strikes Giant Robot T-Rex with his Permanent Deafness Area attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily limited Giant Robot T-Rex 's Accuracy! (Blinded) Combat: Giant Frenzy strikes Sludge with his Permanent Deafness Area attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily limited Sludge's Accuracy! (Blinded) Combat: Giant Frenzy strikes Prowl with his Permanent Deafness Area attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily limited Prowl's Accuracy! (Blinded) Combat: Giant Frenzy strikes Roadbuster with his Permanent Deafness Area attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily limited Roadbuster's Accuracy! (Blinded) The planet cracks beneath their assaults, the very ground is rent, as shrapnel is sent flying, sending Gumbies to the ground and then against the wall. One rather large crack appears on the wall. While it's not an immediate threat, the power of the two giants has left its mark on Retoris, for win or loss. Space Shuttle spots the Dino-rampage, making a sharp roll and avoiding getting hit in the chaos caused by Grimlock's rage. But as he manuevers around all that, he doesn't quite evade Roadbuster's attack- possibly because he's quite busy huffffing in outrage over that Astrotrain comment. <> He starts spinning downwards at that point, wing elevons shifting... and gains control in time. But despite everything, he still manages to unleash a fairly big bombardment at Roadbuster... aka SLAG if he has his way.... <> Combat: Space Shuttle strikes Roadbuster with his My colors are PERFECT-LIKE ME attack! -3 Sludge is dizzy. Shaken and his audio receptors blown out he isn't looking great. That, however, isn't how Sludge thinks. He thinks like this. Me still need to break big tape. Need to break buzzy thing. Then cookie. The missile launcher has one shot left. Sludge can't hear a thing. he also can't see to well. Neither of those matter as he's pointed roughly the right way, the missiles are semi-guided to help even the slowest dino work them and Sludge relys on his keen sense of smell to find the target. He pushes the last button hoping he hits Rumble. Combat: Sludge strikes Giant Rumble with his last button. last missile. attack! The ground begins to heave and buck under the force of Rumble's signature attack, but the force of the upheaval doesn't seem to impact the massive form of Grimlock in the slightest. In fact, he merely keeps walking through it, having spotted the object of his fury at last, the little-big-tapecon Frenzy, assaulting the wall once more. He begins to shuffle more rapidly forward, barrelling through the sea of Decepticons as they themselves fall victim to Rumble's rumbling, growling in fury. The huge blast of noise hits him like a wave, but though it blows out several sub systems, it does nothing to slow him down. Then, he's upon the huge Frenzy, and he begins to snap and bite at him furiously, trying to rip the oversized tape limb from limb as he cuts loose, pinning him up against the very wall he's trying to bring down and savaging him. Combat: Giant Robot T-Rex strikes Giant Frenzy with his brutal dinobot savaging attack! -2 Fathom falls in line with whoever happens to be his extra cover, suddenly feeling rather important. Or a bit exposed. He holds the core against his chest. Nearly to the wall... then Ratbat comes out of nowhere to latch onto his neck. "AAHHH!" is all he can think to do, until the bat suddenly flies off. "Yeah you... you better run!" Rumble's ground-splitting attack and Frenzy's insane sonic onslaught nearly fries Fathom's hypertuned sensors, and he staggers with a yelp, fruitlessly trying to block it out with one arm shielding his head. Thankfully he doesn't get hit as hard as his teammates, and manages to reach an access hatch in the wall. Combat: Fathom begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Sky Lynx and Space Shuttle Roadbuster is doing his job keeping the shuttle sniper from hounding Fathom's escape with the device. At least until the terrible twins unleash their ultimate assault on Retoris. The ground upheaves underfoot, flinging shrapnel in the air as those unfortunate enough to not be quick topple into the opened creavases. At the same time an unholy wail shrieks across the battlefield, the resonation enough to actually put cracks in the Wrecker's visor. And the the orbital blast slams into him, causing him to loose his footing on the now uneven ground and send the Wrecker skidding partway down the slope. Until he finally transforms and uses his alt-mode's all-terrain strength to drive back up the torn ground. As he does so the turret turns and elevates, infrared scope trying to track the shuttle's engine heat signatures despite all the chaos going on around them. Remember that Marauder that got decapitated by a railcannon headshot at the start of this insanity? That's what goes screaming through the air after the shuttle Combaticon. Roadbuster transforms into his Wrecker BattleWagon mode. Combat: Wrecker BattleWagon strikes Space Shuttle with his Linear Blaster Cannon attack! Prowl gets blinded by Frenzy's attack but manages to recover quickly enough. He sees the damage Rumble is doing along with his crazy brother. Time to help out against those two maniacs. In barely 0.5 seconds, Prowl's battle computer begins plotting... Targets: Rumble, Frenzy Range: 914.6m Obstacles: Compensated Targets vector prediction: Calculated Firing solution: Plotted Weapon: Multi-Warhead Incendiary Missiles - FIRING Combat: Prowl strikes Giant Rumble with his Wire-Guided Missile Area attack! -1 Combat: Critical Hit! Combat: Giant Rumble falls to the ground, unconscious. Combat: Prowl strikes Giant Frenzy with his Wire-Guided Missile Area attack! -1 As Rumble hits the ground, that's the same moment his Giant-size bigguy ray thing disappears, glowing softly, then fades away... The cassette tape suddenly unfolds and expands quickly into Rumble's diminuitive robot mode. The Giant Rumble is felled by Prowl's well-planned attack...the missiles destroy his already-weakened armor, and... ...and once Rumble hits the ground, a strange thing happens. He shrinks, reverting back to his normal size. Rumble's status: TKO. Giant Frenzy is still, somehow, functioning after getting savaged by Grimlock and then blasted off his feet, sent sprawling from a missile care of Prowl! His own giant-size energon boost wears off now, leaving him pint sized once more. His frame savaged and torn asunder, he sends a brief comm burst to Blast Off as he limps over to grab Rumble and Harbinger, to try and make an escape... Giant Frenzy transforms into his Frenzy mode. Ratbat gracefully leaps (aka he sorta just like falls off) from Frenzy's shoulder, just as Rumble is felled at the hands of a giant missile. The explosion whites out everything around him, but Ratbat can smell his charge! The High Auditor glides through the air, returning to strike fear in the spark of his latest victim! Ratbat flapflapflaps after Fathom, squealing in a sound not unlike a chihuahua defendings its territory against a larger cat, talons outstretched and fangs ready to bury themselves into the dolphin's neck. "We require that core, Autobot!" Combat: Ratbat strikes Fathom with his Mecha-Fangs attack! Combat: Frenzy begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Sky Lynx, Sludge, Space Shuttle , Ratbat, Wrecker BattleWagon , Giant Robot T-Rex , Prowl, and Fathom <'Autobot'> Fathom says, "AAGH! BAT!" Sludge has left. Sludge heads back to OOC-Land. Space Shuttle doesn't care much about what's going on on the ground- that's not HIS terrain, after all.... but Roadbuster suddenly MAKES it a concern as the Autobot actually throws a Decepticon at him (didn't someone already try that?)... and it WORKS this time! The lifeless form slams into the shuttle, causing a great deal of damage and buckling several key struts of his frame. <> Oh YUCK. Ew. EW EW EW. Now that was just gross. Then Rumble is struck down, and Frenzy is left to attempt a rescue of his fellow tapes. Ugh again. Blast Off can see this is not going anywhere good... really really fast, too. So the shuttle turns and, as much as he'd like to blast Roadbuster for that latest insult, he has some...shuttle duties to perform. Decepticon or not, he's still a shuttle, and shuttles makes sure teammates get home. And Rumble, at least, deserves to get home.... and besides... if he just left the tapes here to fend for themselves, then the Combaticon would have to deal with angry /Soundwave/. So... nope. Blast off zooms down to where Frenzy and his fellows are, opens in cargo bay door, says <> and after whoever gets in does so- he retreats back into the sky he far prefers to be in. And Frenzy better not try anything while he's inside, either. Blast off still has the fire-resistant foam ready, you know. Combat: Space Shuttle sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Space Shuttle begins retreating, outrunning all pursuit. The assault was broken. Finally, finally, it was over. All the plans, all the damage done, and lives lost, but hey, they're Gumbies. The Autobots held the line here today, and sent the Decepticons packing. Retoris, gateway to Iacon, has had one more story added to its short history. The rebirth of the city, the creation of the Wall, The return of Rodimus Prime to the field, and the fall of Elita One, Omega Supreme was brought here as a final defense, but it was not he who garnered the win. Despite Soundwave's machinations, it was over here. Finished.